Monday, December 19, 2011

Merry Christmas from our family to yours. May God bless you and your families. Thank you for your continued readership and support. I promise next year to scrap and share more. I'm just going through alot right now but things are looking up.Have a great CHRISTmas! And remember the TRUE reason for the season.. Christ himself.Love you!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Well I still have no scrappy goodies to show you. We went to Wichita, KS the week of Thanksgiving and I came back sick. I've spent the last five days trying to get better. I was so sick I didn't even feel like putting up the Christmas tree but thank the Lord, it's almost done now.. just needs ornaments!While in Wichita I visited a LOCAL scrapbook store. WOW, what fun that was! They had a few things I've been unable to get at Archivers.. WHOO HOO!It's a fun little store. So if you are ever in the Wichita area, check out Scrap Funattic in Andover. Loved it!

Today, we took Caleb to "Cookies 'n Santa" at Fishers Town Hall. We were first in line, thank God. Because Caleb has a hard time waiting in lines. He sat on Santies lap and said "I WANT AN ORANGE AND BLACK LEAF BLOWER". It was SO cute. Last year he wanted a hand mixer.. this year, a leaf blower. What is with my son and appliances/tools? HA!Too cute :)Well, I happen to know that good old Santa (aka his Aunt Erin) has already gotten him that leaf blower. He's going to love it! :)

Well next week I have a Christmas "stamp a stack" class I'm taking at my friend Heather's. I'll be back to share pics of those cards then.Have a great week!

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Hello everyone :)This is going to be a lengthy post.. just warning ya.

I didn't end up scrappin' at the twelve-hour crop yesterday. I stayed home with my boys and cleaned out the garage, had a friend over and tried on clothes that I hadn't been able to wear in YEARS. I haven't seen my husband much in the past month and felt like I really needed to stay home with he and my son.There's always next month, anyway...

So I want to share some things with you.. some personal things.Ali Edwards or some other scrap celebrity started this challenge called "Blog Your Heart". Which is perfect for me because I'm one of the most honest people you will ever meet. I am TOO honest at times.TMI? - yeah, that's me sometimes. But oh well. I am who I am.But even though I'm honest, I don't generally tell strangers that read my blog a ton of my business. Yeah, I share pics and stories related to Caleb's Autism and a few things here and there about my weight loss surgery. But I don't share super personal things on here. Well, today I am.Anyway, here is what's going on with me -On the weight loss front, I've now lost over 184lbs. Yes, I'm very very proud of myself. People say I should be so happy now. And I am. I LOOK happier and I am able to do SO much more now. But has the weight loss "fixed" everything? No. The surgery helped but, it didn't fix my brain. It's just a tool. Not a magic pill.I still have to work very hard to lose weight (and keep losing). I mourn the loss of food. It was my best friend for a LONG time. I can pretty much eat anything now without getting sick so I really have to stay diligent about eating the right foods and exercising. I still battle depression. I've thought about selling all my scrap stuff and giving scrapping up. Scrapping doesn't really cheer me up anymore like it used to. And with my scraproom upstairs and a kid that won't stay upstairs with me for longer than a few minutes and a husband that's never home, it's really hard to scrap here at home.But I know this is just a temporary thing and as soon as I do that I'll regret it. So I'm getting therapy and praying ALOT and hopefully I'll get through all this ---WITHOUT MEDICATION--forget that, anti-depressants don't work on me. Not to mention, we are thinking about having another baby next year and I don't want to be on any meds that could affect the baby. Sometimes I worry being on an SSRI while pregnant with Caleb CONTRIBUTED to him being Autistic.So there you have it. Say a prayer for me if you will.

On the scrapbooking front.. I went to a Stampin' Up! workshop at my friend Heather's today and here are a few things I made. (cell phone pics, sorry)

mini card

8x8 page - obviously I need to put a pic on this

If you're interested in Stampin' Up! and don't have a local demonstrator, check out Heather's website. She is awesome :) (and please tell her Jenny Brannies sent you, tee hee)

Anyway, that's it. Thanks for "listening" to me "blog my heart". I hope you all have a GREAT week!I plan on scrapping at Archivers with a few friends this next Saturday night. Hopefully I'll be back with pics of my work next weekend.Byeee!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Hi everyone! Just thought I'd pop on here and say HI and post a few more pics from Caleb's Fall photoshoot with CJS Photography as well as some Halloween pics.

Halloween this year ROCKED!Unlike last year, Caleb was open to his costume (although he wouldn't wear ANYthing else even though I tried to talk him into it after I saw his costume was too short). And thank God, too. Because it cost me a whopping $3.00 at a rummage sale a few mos ago.. I love bargains!He also LOVED going from house to house saying "TRICK-OR-TREAT" (often before the homeowners would open their door, though. Mental note: work on that for next year, LOL)

This was the first year he was really into it. It made hubby and I both so happy to see him so giddy about it all. YAY CALEB!!Another great thing - he doesn't even care about the candy! He ate the lollipops and that was all he cared for. It's all in the trash now which, is great for Mommy & Daddy. No more temptation for us :)

Here are a few pics I took with my iPhone 4S and Instagram. LOOOOVE Instagram!!

And here are some (unedited) pics from my DSLR.They aren't that great. I was really into being "present" and helping Caleb trick-or-treat this year instead of being the photographer like in years past :)

See how short his costume was? Yep, he was like Steve Urkel but SO darn cute! tee hee

After we trick-or-treated, we went over to our neighbors house and had a bonfire, wine and more fun. It was a blast! :)

And here are some more pics from Cay's Fall photoshoot. I just LOVE them! Can't wait to scrap them!Regarding scrapping: I have scrapped the past two Saturday nights with friends at Archivers but I've only worked on kits.. no REAL scrapping so far. I find when I'm not in a creative mood or simply don't have the time to get all my scrap stuff together for a crop, working on kits is best.I'm going to a Stampin' Up! party Friday night and Saturday I'm going to an all day NJS crop. I'm really hoping I'll get some stuff done there but we shall see.. I have NO DESIRE right now to go edit and print out pics and get all my Fall stuff together for this crop so we'll see what happens. I might just do more kitting. Leaves me free to talk more to friends at the crop, anyway.. tee hee :)

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Hi all, I'm sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. I went to Vegas with hubby for an Autism conference and since I got back, Caleb has been a real handful. I think with Mommy and Daddy both being gone and my MIL watching him, he has regressed a bit on some things.

I also recently joined the local YMCA and have been there alot .. especially in the pool with Caleb. He is normally scared to death of water so when he LOVED the pool, I was SHOCKED! So of course, I take him there any chance I can :)

Regarding scrapbooking, hubby has been gone ALOT. I SO need a break. I'm hoping to crop with a few friends this weekend at Archiver's :) :)

Here are some pics of Caleb that were taken last Friday at a park right by our house - Fishers Heritage Park at White River. Thank you so much to CJS Photography. You did an OUTSTANDING job! I can't wait to scrap these.And there will be more to come!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

I scrapped at Archivers with Michele last night. Another school layout *sigh*.I know, I'm sick of them, too. LOLI have ONE more to do and then I'm done for a while. YAY! Then I'm going to scrap pumpkin patch pics :) Double YAY!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

I have been CRAZY BUSY!! I mean, unbelievably NUTSO busy!In addition to be sick (all three of us have sinus infections), hubs has been out of town all but one day the past few weeks, we've been doing alot of church things (small groups, etc).Also, Caleb had a field trip to the pumpkin patch w/his school, etc etc.

Sunday we had a family get-together at my parents house. They live on a few acres with a pond and it's really just GORGEOUS property. And since we were altogether for the first time in over a year and a half, they had a professional photographer come out and take pics of all of us. It was my Mom's idea for us to wear Colts gear (which, if you know my Mom, that's pretty shocking! She's not a football fan, LOL).Here's a pic of the three of us :)

I'd love to say I've been scrapbooking my little heart out but other than some Christmas cards and a few kit layouts, I haven't done much.And life isn't going to slow down anytime soon.Next week the inlaws are going to come in from Kansas City and watch Caleb while hubs and I travel to Las Vegas for an Autism conference. I'm hoping to sneak a date night in on Saturday night.. praying it works out :)I'm going to scrap at Archivers this Saturday night with a friend.. hoping to get something done and maybe, just maybe, I'll have something to show you on Monday :)

Monday, September 19, 2011

We've been very busy lately (and SICK) so I haven't had time to scrapbook. Hopefully once I get over what it is that I have, I'll be back to scrappin' again.September 9th my friend Michele and I took Caleb (and her son) to the VIP kids carnival in Zionsville. It's JUST for special needs kids. LOTS of Autistic kids there. Caleb had a BLAST!! All the rides were FREE and he rode his first REAL amusement rides ever! Here are a few pics. It was raining so they aren't the best. But I'm still going to scrap them :)

First face painting:Mommy won Caleb his first pet (goldfish). Unfortunately, Mommy also killed it (but Caleb didn't really care or understand anything about that).This is Caleb & Michele:

And then Saturday we did a walk for Autism called "Answers for Autism". I have pics from that as well but they are on my cell phone and I cannot find my USB cord. I'll upload those later and I know I will also be scrapping them :)

I hope to get at least one layout done this week. We'll see.. It's going to be a busy one.Hope yours is GREAT!

Westfield, Indiana. I'm the
wife of an awesome guy and SAHM to seven year old Caleb who has high-functioning Autism and Chloe, born May 2013. Lover of all things memory keeping... Especially scrapbooking :)